From The Tower: Future Change, Racing Across the Globe

We are now one-third of the way into the first season of SCOR. The cream is starting to rise to the top, but there’s still plenty of time for twists, turns, and drama. It’s time to start off the new week right as we head into the thick of the season.

No Quarter: Needless to say, this week’s race at Slinger Speedway was, for lack of a better term, a shitshow. Some would even go as far as to call it a clusterfuck.

As a rule of thumb, the quarter-mile bullrings have been problematic during Season 1. After some more behind-the-scenes testing, it is rather likely that many of those tracks will not return to the STSC slate in Season 2. While there will be some “smaller” tracks (testing has gone fine thus far on tracks in the 1/3 to 3/8-mile range, for example), the ¼ mile tracks have proven just too hectic, by and large.

So while there is some disappointment to see those tracks go, we are very excited to see which new tracks will be coming to the table, and look forward to testing them and sharing next year’s schedule when the time comes.

I always find it interesting in these leagues to see where people list as their birthplace, especially since you can choose to live any life far more exciting than your own. So far, we haven’t disappointed, with a cast of drivers literally scattered across the globe.

A look at where each driver in SCOR listed for birthplace (not including drivers with generic birthplaces such as “USA”)

Naturally – especially for a stock car league – there is a large North American presence. But there is also representation from Chile (Alexis Rodrigo), Australia (Bobby Watson and Julia O’Sullivan), and Japan (Seiji Kaetsu).

There is also a solid level of participation from Europe, as highlighted here. One of our top ten drivers in points as of this writing, Jean Girard, is French. Both Wes Winston and Jasper Clayton hail from England, while Russia, Latvia, and Austria are also represented (Dmitry Nagiev, Leonid Yakubovich, Niki Lauda, Jr., . This map also doesn’t include Ivars Braze and Pushkin, whose hometowns are simply listed as “Latvia” and “Russia.”

Meanwhile, our North American representation actually is pretty well balanced across the continent. Title contender Luis Cabrera Perez is from Mexico, as well as Juan Deag. Canadians include Oats, Dayymo Wert, Alex Light, and Robert Phelps.

In the United States, every region except the Pacific Northwest is represented. Joe Trickle leads the Midwest representation out of Wisconsin, while points leader Kurt Gunnabee is from Sandwich, Massachusetts. Michael Mahoney comes from the Mile High City of Denver, while the Gulf Coast features drivers such as Kevin Keselowski, Wooba Bally, and Tilly Tamburlaine. The Eastern Seaboard gives us Jack Stevens, Crash Bandicoot, Harvey Bakerfield, and Charlotte Bowey, while Chris Crutchfield, Adderall Allmendinger, and Cody Ghostspeed are representing the left coast. It’s quite an interesting mix.

Progress Report: While nobody commented with questions after last week’s From the Tower, Zoone did toss a couple of questions my way to answer.

What are your thoughts after the first third of races have been completed?

Firstly, and most importantly, I am blown away by how big this thing has gotten in just its first season. To have nearly 50 drivers in our first season is incredible, and the interactions on the Discord and in the comment sections here at SCORacing.com have been top-notch. I think this thing is just going to get better and better, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.

Secondly, it’s been very interesting to see which drivers have emerged at the top of the standings through sheer consistency. Kurt Gunnabee leads the points standings without leading a single lap, on the sheer strength of his six top-ten finishes.

With that said, it’s not impossible to succeed if you’re not one of the front-runners. Which leads to the next question…

What are your major surprises so far?

The major surprise for me is how competitive, at least in the STSC, you can be without being a TPE magnet. Even drivers who have arrived later to the party are able to jump in and see competitive results, such as Julia O’Sullivan. O’Sullivan finished seventh in her debut at Slinger, and would have posted another strong finish at Evergreen if not for an issue on pit road.

Of course, there are other surprises. Perhaps the most talked about has been Charlotte Bowey’s performance, or lack thereof, so far this season. It has been incredibly shocking to see one of the higher TPE-earners in the league struggle just to make an A-Main, usually by way of some mechanical failure or incident in a preliminary race after a poor qualifying effort. Each race, we say her luck has to turn around, and each race it doesn’t. How long can it continue?

Lastly, I would say I have been pleasantly surprised again by the level of participation. Especially on race nights, the level of interest in the voice chat and on Discord/Twitch is incredible for a league just starting out. It’s been a lot of fun, and I look forward to every race because of it. Let’s keep it rolling, folks.

Winged sprints would be fun.
NASCAR trucks should definitely get consideration. Especially trucks on road courses.?
Questions
Your top 5 paint schemes/liveries for season 1?
Should pit crew consistency/speed be more of a factor (aka require more points)in Tier 1?
Best dark horse candidate for the season 1 championship? (Spell it c..o..d..y…)?

Winged sprint cars on pavement are a few things. Mostly crap. Yeah they run 140 mph, but the passing is very low unless there are accidents or engine/part failures. Qualifying is amazing when you find out how big some of thems balls are 😀